It's almost that time of year again! With the pre-E3 announcements and leaks already starting I figured we might as well have an E3 thread.

So Sony announced today that they're doing this weird thing. They'll actually be streaming their E3 presentation to a bunch of movie theaters all over the country, so you can go to a theater and watch it there instead of just staying home and streaming it to your TV. Is this actually better? Seems kind of inconvenient to me...well at least it's free because otherwise that would be ridiculous.

If they're going this far I seriously hope they have something to actually show at the conference. Something new, I mean...

EA tweeted that they would be announcing six new games at E3. What percentage do you suppose are flappy bird clones?

I bet we see at least a new Mass Effect teaser, which will be in the same vain as the previous three games. Group combat with powers and stuff. My dream game is a star system-hopping detective adventure along the lines of the Asimov Robot series. The codex entries and conversations of the first ME game really built a fascinating universe. It'd be awesome to explore that. But there's no way in hell that happens. It will be interesting to see how they account for the ending of the trilogy though.

I recall reading an article recently about how the game development was progressing well and that the game was about at the halfway point.Given that, I wouldn't be surprised if they showed a small presentation of someone playing a demo.Kind of like they did for DA2.

Microsoft: Promises a brand new, revolutionary lineup, then proceeds to talk about the following: At least Five Core Gamer games (three of which will be FPSes, one of which will be some low fantasy/semi historical if you squint really really hard game where you're some Marine type going around stabbing people in slightly shinier ways, and one modern day/semi futuristic Marine type going around ganking peeps), Two Racing games, One AssCreed game, One EA game, a bunch of rambling about the 360XBone's amazing multimedia features (featuring no less than two PR guys and one Celeb making fools of themselves), a bunch of Kinect Shit (with the requisite pair of kids trying to have a ball in spite of the script telling them how to have that ball), a Time Share-ish infomercial couched in the idea of shilling crap that has nothing to do with gaming to the audience, and one 2 minute Trailer of The Big New Hotness at the end. Basically, the exact same shit they done 5 years running.

EA: You've probably already seen everything they're going to offer (either through pre-E3 trailers, or from the Microsoft conference mentioned above). There will be exactly one announcement that they will build their conference towards, it will not be worth waiting for.

Ubisoft: Will probably have a hilarious (or hilariously awful) host. Will unveil the same Ass Creed as from the Microsoft conference (since the franchise pays their bills), will probably unveil more ports of Rayman and Scribblenauts, will probably announce some Watch Dogs DLC, they may talk about last year's post apocalyptic co-op survival RPG (provided it hasn't already come out), and they will end their show by unveiling something genuinely interesting or relevant to my interests (like a Child of Light 2 or something) and thus win E3 with a single master stroke.

Sony: Will not be nearly as entertaining as they were last year when Microsoft decided to dig the XBone into a hole and Sony promptly buried it for them. They will however, show off games with a generally broader level of appeal compared to the offerings mentioned above. They will however, also mention something really dumb like the Wand, the Storybook, or some other gimmicky piece of shit (unfortunately, this probably means The Occulus). They will also remind us on just how much they love Indie game devs. There will be two new games worth keeping an eye on (one of them probably from Squeenix). And finally, they will announce new bundles for their PS4/Vita to help make PS4s even harder to find/people give a fuck about the PSVita.

Nintendo: Will probably spend most of their time on Smash Bros, Zelda Musou, and the Xenomon remakes ("I am the Alpha Sapphire and the Omega Ruby! Ye shall be as Pokemon Masters, like no one ever was!") this year, and will remind us that the reason why we're still holding onto our Wii Us (i.e. X), is still coming and will still likely be awesome upon arrival (if the system isn't completely dead by then). They may necropost something about SMTxFE and announce some other crossover title like a Metroid Metroidvania or Pokemon Kagura (where Pokemon Ninjas battle and strip each other). They will also talk about that Skylander knock off shit they were musing about a month ago (that like every other Nintendo peripheral since The Zapper will crap out after two games) and other attempts at not ending the year in the Red due to all the money they're hemorrhaging over the Wii U, lest Iwata's out of a job.

I bet we see at least a new Mass Effect teaser, which will be in the same vain as the previous three games. Group combat with powers and stuff. My dream game is a star system-hopping detective adventure along the lines of the Asimov Robot series. The codex entries and conversations of the first ME game really built a fascinating universe. It'd be awesome to explore that. But there's no way in hell that happens. It will be interesting to see how they account for the ending of the trilogy though.

I saw a comment from someone in Bioware saying that Shepard wasn't going to be mentioned/important in the game, so I see three possible ways they can handle the ME3 endings. 1. Prequel, 2. Alternate Universe with similar physics, or 3. So Far into the Future that what Happened in 1-3 Doesn't Matter (because synthesis is inevitable or some such BS). I might consider the next Mass Effect if it is 2, but I'm sure it will be 3 with the Leviathan's race as antagonists.

It's once again been long enough that I'm obliged to hate Nintendo and Camelot a little bit more every year they don't announce a new Golden Sun. At least TLA ended on a cliffhanger that could be somewhat accepted as an ending. Dark Dawn just kind of ended abruptly.

FFXV will definitely get a release window, even if SE completely misses the release window when it comes around. I'm almost willing to bet that they're going to go for a global release.

I'm also expecting a bit of a bigger showing from Sony for the Vita this year. They seem to have something up their sleeve based on a couple of quotes here and there. If the rumors are true and they announce disc-based PS1/2 support for PS4, I will sell all I have to buy one for the fall.